Chelsea Manning Quotes

I want people to see the truth... regardless of who they are... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.

I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy.

I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.

Sometimes You Have to Pay a Heavy Price to Live in a Free Society

I think we can achieve meaningful change, but only if we demand that the institutions themselves change their behavior.

There is far more to transitioning in the public eye than money, public relations, and logistics.

Even if I didn't have the support that I have, I would still be fighting the same fights, and I would still be the same person that I am today.

I want people to see the truth.

Anxiety, depression, and suicide don't discriminate based on how much money you have - though it might make it easier for you to get help.

I don't think that I'm embracing any kind of leadership for transparency or trans advocacy.

It can be so difficult to get people to think about systemic institutional problems. It is easier just to see the actions of one or two people and say, "That's wrong!"

It's not my goal to be a leader or spokesperson, or anything like that.

I think it's actually kind of sweet how there is a reciprocal effect that our stories can have on each other.

I believe that the trans movement is at a crossroads. We have achieved an unprecedented level of visibility in the last couple of years. However, that's not the same thing as equality.

I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility).

I don't believe that Freedom of Information laws, which have arbitrary time periods or broad blanket exemptions, meet the level of transparency that society needs today.

Visibility is not equality.

I really don't care how I am perceived by people on the outside.

If an organization produces a document, it should be made public as soon as possible.

There is an awful lot of work to do to protect trans folks. We are still disproportionally poor and administratively and institutionally discriminated against at all levels of society.

I can only ask of those who care about me and the issues in my case to support me and spread the word about what is going on.

Day-to-day life is as simple as it is routine - though my days are often long and very busy.

I have served a sufficiently long sentence. I am not asking for a pardon of my conviction.

While being tossed around the world from place to place as a teenager, I wasn't really tethered to any place or anyone.

I think the embryonic digital world had the same affect on me as the openness of the old American frontier.

As a young kid, I spent a lot of time exploring the world around me.

I am merely asking for a first chance to live my life outside the [U.S. Disciplinary Barracks] as the person I was born to be.

Donations to my legal defense fund really help, and I think keeping me motivated and spreading the message are also very important.

The most important people for me, at least in the last couple of years since I came out, are my supersecret trans friends and confidantes. I think I need to come up with a code name for this circle.

Having a birthday around the holidays was never easy and, with every successive year, it felt more and more as if celebrating my birthday got thrown into the December holiday mix as an afterthought.